Outdoors
More Stories
‘The Bears of Blue River’ … revisited?
By Jack Spaulding For more than a century, the tales of frontier teenager Balser Brent and his adventures with bears, guns and Native American treasure along Indiana’s Blue River in the 1800s left generations of young Hoosiers spellbound. But the sad reality for those hoping to track and trap a bear: Black bears had vanished… Continue reading.
Home Restoration
By Jack Spaulding A slightly forlorn tone tinged my wife’s voice when she said, “There is something in the garage I want to show you.” As I walked into the garage, I saw, lying on one of my work tables, a wide light maple branch holding a small woven bird’s nest containing three tiny ivory… Continue reading.
Quoth the cardinal
By Jack Spaulding Once, on a late afternoon, I was sitting in my upstairs office writing my latest column of outdoors lore when suddenly, I was surprised to hear a tap, as if someone had gently rapped, upon my second story back door. Since even our family and close friends use the front door, the… Continue reading.
Wren invasion
By Jack Spaulding One Sunday morning before Christmas, as my wife and I were sitting down to lunch, my sister Mary Jo called from her home in Ingalls, Indiana. “You’ll never guess who dropped in to see me this morning,” she began. “I was still in bed when I heard something flutter by my head…. Continue reading.
Unusual ‘Roosters’
By Jack Spaulding My good friend Tom Stiers phoned the other day seeking my advice. Growing up together in the small town of Moscow, we have shared many an outdoor adventure over the years. So, I was amused but not surprised by his latest close encounter. Tom started out, “It seems I have an unusual… Continue reading.
If the water’s brown, turn around!
BY JACK SPAULDING Summertime brings kayakers and canoeists out to run the rivers and streams here in Indiana. Nothing is more fun than a leisurely trip down a river or stream, floating past the banks covered in wildflowers while bathing in the luxury and warmth of Mother Nature. Among the beauty and tranquility, danger can… Continue reading.
Clusters of Critters or Hordes of Herds
BY JACK SPAULDING While gathering information about eagle watch programs across the state, I came across something noting that a group of eagles was not technically called a “flock.” Doing what is totally unexpected of an outdoors writer, I researched the proper terms for collective groups of animals. Sure enough: A group of eagles is… Continue reading.
Outoor mythbusters
By Jack Spaulding In the course of over 30 years writing about the outdoors, I have had access to a lot of “confidential” facts given me on the QT from the conspiracy theory crowd. There are always eyewitnesses or a staunch, believable individual, who is the source of the confidential information. It usually goes, “I… Continue reading.
Squirrel Dinner
I haven’t had much of a chance to get out and challenge the squirrel population this year. The ones raiding the bird feeder and those making forays across our yard to the neighbor’s butternut trees live under an unspoken umbrella of protection here on the home front. However, their woodland cousins are fair game. On the… Continue reading.
Beware the one-lined purple people impeder
When I first heard about the new “Purple Paint No Trespass” law, I thought it was a joke. But believe it or not, in our label-loving, litigious society, an easy-to-read “No Trespassing” sign is being upstaged by a simple swatch of purple paint strategically placed on a post or tree. This can now legally define… Continue reading.
Tipping the Scales
BY JACK SPAULDING Friday the 13th proved lucky for a Crown Point angler who broke the record for the biggest lake whitefish caught in Indiana. Dustin Meeter landed the record 6-pound, 3-ounce lake whitefish on Lake Michigan near Burns Harbor in Portage on Friday, April 13. The fish measured 25.5 inches long. Meeter’s fish marks… Continue reading.
Where asparagus once grew wild
By Jack Spaulding One of my fond experiences as a child came with the first warming days of spring. Prior to cultivated side ditches, mowed fence rows and the liberal use of herbicides, wild asparagus proliferated in the side ditches along the county roads. And it was free for the picking! The sporadic patches took… Continue reading.